Climate justice

Source: (bbc.co.uk)

This week, lifelong human rights activist Kumi Naidoo takes over as international executive director of Greenpeace. Here, he explains why he is making the jump to a mainstream environmental organisation, and what role he sees for organisations such as Greenpeace in the modern world.

I join Greenpeace in the "eye of the storm", in the final weeks before the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

It is the most important opportunity to tackle the greatest threat facing the planet: climate change.

I believe that the convergence of crises that we find ourselves in - food, fuel, poverty, financial and climate - have led to a "perfect storm" to which we can respond in one of two ways.

One is the route of "business as usual".

This is what we tend to witness from the G8 and G20 leaders, as well as other individual governments, who have all paid lip service to poverty and climate change with statements about greening the world's economy without providing any substantive propositions or action to back it up.

"More equality and the equitable sharing of the planet's finite resources are our only chance to save the planet for the future"

The current apparent lack of political will to sign a fair, ambitious and binding treaty on climate change in Copenhagen is a prime example of this.

The other route is one that truly engages with the radical changes the world needs, and where governments, businesses and civil society all work together to make the far-reaching decisions that are required to ensure that we keep the planet safe for future generations.

Industrialised world leaders still have the ability to turn the situation around, by attending the Copenhagen climate summit, personally committing to slash their countries' emissions, and showing developing countries that they mean business by providing the funding needed - at least $140bn per year - to enable them to adapt to and tackle climate change and protect their forests.

This is substantially less than the trillions of dollars that governments risked in bailing out the banks last year.

Be the change

I believe that change is possible. I have witnessed profound changes in my own life time and my own life.

Make Poverty History white wristband" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4">

I have been an activist for the majority of my life, and my personal journey began at the age of 15 in apartheid South Africa where I was involved with the liberation struggle, eventually having to flee to the UK in 1987.

After the release of Nelson Mandela, I returned to South Africa and was involved in strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world, both through Civicus - the global organisation aiming to boost citizen involvement in issues - where I served as secretary general for the past 10 years, and through the Make Poverty History campaign of which I was one of the founders in 2003.

I have always personally connected the poverty movement with stewardship for the environment; and having served for the past year as chair of tcktcktck, the global campaign for climate action, it felt like a natural progression to move to Greenpeace.

I see a need to bring together the poverty movement and the environmental movement as we face up to the greatest challenge of our time: climate change.

Climate change is real and happening now. It already accounts for over 300,000 deaths throughout the world each year, according to the Global Humanitarian Forum.

Not only that, but I am aware that time is very much against us. We must take radical action, and I believe that the work that Greenpeace does across the globe is vital in our understanding of climate change and also the actions that are needed.

Pathfinders

While some may wonder what a poverty activist is doing moving to an environmental organisation, I do not view my role at Greenpeace as an abrupt detour.

I believe the struggles against poverty and climate change are inextricably linked, while the solutions are the same.

"Let's be clear; time is running out to address the issue of climate change"

More equality and the equitable sharing of the planet's finite resources are our only chance to save the planet for the future.

We in civil society have to believe there is a new pathway.

We have to have the confidence to tread this new path; indeed, to demand this new path.

We must take the leap of faith that says the strategies may need to be fluid, but the objectives are abundantly clear.

We need to organise ourselves and work together in new and more transparent ways. We have to break down the barriers that exist, and realise that our struggles and causes are not independent.

They are not about the people or the planet; they are in fact one single common cause - justice.

Justice is applicable to all of life: human, plant and animal. This is why I came to Greenpeace - for climate justice.

In the past we might have believed that we had more time to make incremental progress. The logic in the anti-poverty movement has been that the struggle to end global poverty is a marathon, not a sprint.

The difficult questions now are: do climate change and the recent shocks to the world's economic systems allow us the luxury of running a marathon over the course of the next 10-15 years

Can we afford to delay the implementation of significant policy and essential change

Devastating picture

Let's be clear; time is running out to address the issue of climate change.

It requires urgent solutions - solutions which, as the science makes clear, must be implemented within the next five years if we are to stand a chance of preventing runaway climate change and the social, economic and environmental devastation that it would bring.

Everything is in play. We have heard the warnings from scientists, economists and even military leaders: unchecked climate change will result in mass starvation, mass migration, mass extinction and amplify the causes of conflict.

We know what a climate-saving deal looks like, and we know what needs to be done to get one.

We must all seize the opportunity to change the planet's trajectory, to invest in a green economy generating millions of jobs, delivering power to the poor and reducing global security threats over access to climate-changing fossil fuels.

Nature does not negotiate.

It will not wait for our political leaders to set aside their petty differences and short term self interest. It will not wait for civil society to join in common cause.

The time is now, the time to act and the time to set the world on a new path to a green and peaceful future.

Do you agree with Kumi Naidoo Is climate change essentially an issue of justice Are politicians addressing the issue with the speed that the science mandates What role should organisations such as Greenpeace be playing in the modern world

Send us your comments using the form below: